Snell Jumps on SVG Bandwagon with New Sponsorship

The Sports Video Group is pleased to welcome Snell as it’s a corporate sponsor. Snell is a leading innovator in digital media technology and provides broadcasters and global media companies with a comprehensive range of solutions to create, better manage, and streamline the distribution of content for today’s multi-screen world. Snell provides the tools necessary to transition seamlessly and cost-effectively to HDTV, stereoscopic 3D, and 3Gbps operations.

“Snell is delighted to join the Sports Video Group and strengthen our relationships with professional sports broadcasters and production companies,” says John Shike, VP Marketing & Channel Management, Snell. “We appreciate the fact that our customer’s applications drive our product development and we look forward to listening to the needs of the SVG community.

Headquartered in the U.K., Snell serves more than 2,000 broadcasters, post facilities, and global media companies in more than 100 countries through its worldwide team of sales and support personnel.

“Snell offers a wide range of products specifically designed for sports video productions such as standards and HD converters, Sirius 800 series routers, modular infrastructure solutions, and production switchers like the new Kahuna 360,” says Shike. “In terms of applications and formats, Snell is at the forefront of important sports production trends including stereoscopic 3D and flexible migration to HD formats like 1080p. We look forward to the Sports Entertainment Summit in Los Angeles in January, as this will be the first SVG event in 2011 that we will be participating in.”

SIS LIVE, operator of the largest satellite uplink fleet in Europe and the largest outside broadcast provider in the U.K., is using Snell’s Alchemist Ph.C – HD to enable 3D conversions during live event broadcasts. SIS LIVE began using the Alchemist Ph.C – HD to support live 3D delivery in February, when the company participated in the screening of the RBS 6 Nations Rugby tournament at 40 cinemas across the U.K. The Alchemist Ph.C – HD ensured smooth conversion of left- and right-eye video from the 1080i50 production standard to the 720p60 standard required to reduce flicker and ensure high viewing quality on theater screens.

In addition Mediatec Broadcast of Oslo has integrated Snell’s Morpheus automation system with EVS production and playout servers to achieve rapid turnaround and playout of live and near-live sports coverage on Norway’s Viasat Sport and Viasat Football channels, as well as the recently re-launched Rikstoto Direkte, a 24-hour channel for the Norwegian horseracing federation. With its flexible control features and its ability to playout directly from EVS XT[2] servers, Morpheus enables Mediatec staff to make a clip, turn it around, and play it to air in seconds.

For more information, visit www.snellgroup.com.